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Last weekend, Apollo’s chief economist Torsten Slok asked whether AI agents could set off a bank run, by moving cash balances from low-yielding checking accounts to fintechs that offer higher yields.
“If every household used AI agents to optimize the return on their cash balances, banks could lose a large share of the cheap deposits they rely on to make loans, which would be a problem for the entire financial system.”
The same dynamic could be starting to play out onchain. Stablecoins are the dominant category of tokenized asset at $300.9b market cap, yet issuers retain reserve yield for themselves much like traditional banks. Tokenized funds are the next largest category at $34.6b and offer yield to holders, mirroring fintechs.
The UX of crypto products has been historically lacking, which has created a sense of inertia for individual users and onchain businesses alike. Yet most blockchains are permissionless, so moving an asset can take a single transaction, while legacy systems require permission at every step. We believe that AI agents have the potential to remove the remaining friction and make onchain balances more productive for holders, so the shift Apollo describes could play out onchain first.
This newsletter looks at the early signs of that shift through (1) the growing demand for yield, (2) the risk/reward of tokenized funds, and (3) the issuers with both products.
1) The growing demand for yield
The market cap of tokenized funds has risen from 3.0% of stablecoin market cap to 11.5% over the past two years. Tokenized funds grew from $5.1b to $34.6b in that time, while stablecoins grew from $170.6b to $300.9b.
Sky’s sUSDS was the single largest contributor, adding $4.5b, or 15.3% of the increase. Circle’s USYC, Ondo’s USDY, BlackRock’s BUIDL, and Franklin Templeton’s iBENJI followed, and together the five added $12.4b, or 42.0%. Stablecoins scaled first, and demand for onchain yield followed.
AI agents adopted at scale could push the shift further, moving balances into tokenized funds instead of leaving them idle in stablecoins. If 10% of stablecoin market cap moved into tokenized funds, tokenized funds would rise from 11.5% to 23.9% of stablecoin market cap, and their market cap would nearly double, from $34.6b to $64.7b.
2) The risk/reward of tokenized funds
Tokenized funds fall into three main types, each with its own size and yield. U.S. T-bill funds hold $13.7b and pay a weighted average APY of 3.4%, yield strategies hold $10.9b at 4.9%, and credit funds hold $6.2b at 5.5%. Stablecoins hold $300.9b and pay holders 0%.
Higher yield tends to come with more risk. T-bill funds such as Circle's USYC lend to the U.S. government, long seen as one of the most creditworthy borrowers in the world. Yield strategies such as Sky's sUSDS diversify across T-bills, private credit, and onchain lending. Credit funds tend to pay the most because they often lend through more complex structures that involve more underlying work and risk. sUSDai is one example, lending to AI companies using their GPUs as collateral, and currently pays 7.6% APY.
An AI agent could match every idle balance to the fund that fits its user’s risk tolerance. Stablecoin issuers cannot pay yield, so a holder who wants a return has to move into a separate product, a choice an agent could make instead of leaving the balance yielding 0%.
3) The issuers with both products
Circle’s tokenized fund (USYC) has grown much faster than its stablecoin (USDC) over the past year, even after cooling off since June. USYC rose from $724.6m to $2.4b, while USDC rose from $73.4b to $74.0b.
The same pattern shows up when looking at other issuers of both a stablecoin and tokenized fund. Sky’s sUSDS grew 118.2% over the past year while USDS grew 29.0%. Likewise, sUSDai grew 196.3% while USDai fell 52.2%.
Circle appears to be building for USYC’s next leg of growth. The issuer offers an API that enables movement between USDC and USYC, so an AI agent could easily shift idle stablecoins to a yield-bearing position. Circle names agentic economic activity as one of the focuses of Arc, its recently launched blockchain where both USDC and USYC are deployed. Arc could be the next catalyst for USYC's growth.
Agentic products are launching across crypto and finance, and Token Terminal is part of the shift. This week, our onchain data became available via an Agent App within Robinhood Agents, as the only dedicated crypto data platform at launch, and our Agentic payments page already tracks early activity in this growing space. We expect this trend to only accelerate as the thesis of this newsletter plays out.
Listed United Stables’ stablecoin (U) on Robinhood Chain. Learn more on the asset's fact sheet.
Listed Multipli's rwaUSD Institutional (rwaUSDi) on Robinhood Chain and X Layer. Learn more on the asset's fact sheet.
Listed Matrixdock's tokenized gold (XAUM) on Arc, HyperEVM and Stellar. Learn more on the asset's fact sheet.
Listed 7 Ondo Finance Intelligent Portfolio tokens (BLKDIGon, BLKGRWon, BLKHIon, BRAINon, MAG7Xon, YLD5on and YLD8on) on Ethereum and BNB Chain, taking the catalog to 582 assets. Learn more on the issuer's project page.
Listed 30 more Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base, including AVGOc, NFLXc, PLTRc, LLYc, and AMDc, taking the catalog to 45 assets. Learn more on the issuer's project page.
Most projects with liquid tokens do not provide regular, standardized reporting to their stakeholders. Token Terminal's reporting initiative exists to close this gap, giving investors the data to evaluate onchain businesses on fundamentals rather than narratives alone.
Token Terminal publishes standardized quarterly reports covering key financial and operational metrics alongside qualitative commentary from the respective core team. With Q3 coming to a close, now is a good time to catch up on our Q2 2026 reports on Discover, as we begin production on the next round of reports.
If you're evaluating how to formalize your project's data and reporting strategy, get in touch.
This week, we announced two major integrations that bring Token Terminal data to millions of users.
Token Terminal x The Block
The Block is integrating Token Terminal's onchain data across its platform.
This means The Block's analysts can work with data at the level their research requires: from comparable metrics across blockchains, applications, and RWA issuers, down to the underlying markets, pools, transactions, assets, and smart contract activity behind those numbers.
Token Terminal x Robinhood Agents
Token Terminal is now available as an Agent App within Robinhood Agents, as the only dedicated onchain data platform included at launch.
Through Token Terminal's Agent App, Robinhood customers can access standardized onchain data across 100+ blockchains, 1,200+ applications, and 10,000+ tokenized assets without leaving Robinhood.
Customers can compare any blockchain, application, or tokenized asset across tens of standardized metrics, explore historical trends, and trace each metric back to its underlying methodology.
Bring Token Terminal data to your platform
We source raw blockchain data, decode smart contract activity, and transform it into standardized financial and usage metrics. The same end-to-end data infrastructure behind these integrations can power your own platform.
If you're interested in integrating Token Terminal data, reach out to Sebastian from our Partnerships team at sebastian@tokenterminal.xyz.
The authors of this content, or members, affiliates, or stakeholders of Token Terminal may be participating or are invested in protocols or tokens mentioned herein. The foregoing statement acts as a disclosure of potential conflicts of interest and is not a recommendation to purchase or invest in any token or participate in any protocol. Token Terminal does not recommend any particular course of action in relation to any token or protocol. The content herein is meant purely for educational and informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as financial, investment, legal, tax or any other professional or other advice. None of the content and information herein is presented to induce or to attempt to induce any reader or other person to buy, sell or hold any token or participate in any protocol or enter into, or offer to enter into, any agreement for or with a view to buying or selling any token or participating in any protocol. Statements made herein (including statements of opinion, if any) are wholly generic and not tailored to take into account the personal needs and unique circumstances of any reader or any other person. Readers are strongly urged to exercise caution and have regard to their own personal needs and circumstances before making any decision to buy or sell any token or participate in any protocol. Observations and views expressed herein may be changed by Token Terminal at any time without notice. Token Terminal accepts no liability whatsoever for any losses or liabilities arising from the use of or reliance on any of this content.
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